With the Evolution of Combat, the rune scimitar and rune longsword now have the same damage per second and slashing style, with slight differences only in attack speed, damage and weight.

The rune longsword was widely considered to be the second-best non-degrading non-members weapon, surpassed only by the rune scimitar. However, this belief was controversial because many players considered the rune sword (rune shortsword), which has the same attack speed as the scimitar, to be superior.

Some players considered the benefits of the rune longsword versus the Rune scimitar to be dependent upon the ratio of the player's attack and strength levels, with a higher ratio of attack level to strength level making use of the rune longsword more advantageous than the scimitar, and vice-versa. This depended on the monsters that were fought, but the difference was largely insignificant. In PvP situations, one could wish to use a longsword in favour of a scimitar in order to land consistent, slightly higher blows, instead of rapid, yet lower blows of rune scimitars. This effect only applied to armoured fights.

Rune longswords could also be more effective against foes weak to stab (i.e. chainbodies or dragons). The rune longsword provided more flexible fighting options than the scimitar, so players could vary their training amongst certain monsters to more effectively wield the longsword.

However, with specific enemy weaknesses and weapon attack styles, it can still be concluded that each weapon has its place.

On 23 July2009, five days before the scheduled update, the rune longsword image in the Grand Exchange database was replaced by the new model. Players found the image and posted about it in the RuneScape Forums, making it widely known before Jagex removed the image a few hours later. Five days later the image was once again put up along with the official release.

Like most other swords, on 12 April2011, the rune longsword received an update changing its grip when held by a player.